What Are The Biggest Upsets In Overwatch History?

Across the years, who has pulled off the biggest underdog story in Overwatch?

Joseph "Volamel" Franco

Joseph "Volamel" Franco

01st Feb 2022 05:33

Images via Blizzard Entertainment

What Are The Biggest Upsets In Overwatch History?

For as young of an esports as it is, the narrative history of Overwatch carries a coat of iridescence. From the APEX era stretching well into the throes of its self-titled franchised league, Overwatch has seen its fair share of earth-shattering upsets. However, after taking into account upwards of five years of competition, the stakes that have laid on the proverbial table, and the process of victory, who has the rights to the biggest upset throughout Overwatch 1’s life cycle? 

First, to establish a loose guide, the match upset needs to meet certain criteria. Recency does play a role, especially if you subscribe heavily to the idea that the latter years of Overwatch have seen an increase in competitiveness, but we will attempt to streamline them across major competition.

Nothing makes an upset land more than one with dramatic stakes. Be it a playoff berth or a stage final captured against the odds, what’s online makes the match that much more important. And when it comes down to it; in what way did the upset occur, how was the match played it? Was it a sweep or did they get reversed? Did the underdogs trade blows with titans? That said, we're going back to the start to begin our list.

5.) A Playoff To Remember

The number one seed falls to the number six seed. Highest to lowest. And with a championship ticket on the line? The Philadelphia Fusion’s coming of age in their biggest match of the season to book their flights into the inaugural Overwatch League grand final. While the eventual champions dictate the narrative surrounding the first ever-playoff race, Philadelphia’s climb to prominence is one for the history books. With the flexibility to play the full gambit of compositions from double-sniper to Widowmaker and Tracer to the single Mercy composition that sprung up towards the end of the playoffs, the Fusion not only could play the field but could do so extremely well. Dispatching the New York Excelsior not once, but twice is no small feat, but with the context of the season as a whole and how favoured New York was to win it all? Fusions win here is easily among some of the best upsets ever.

4.) Felling Titans

The 2019 Vancouver Titans were another beast entirely. The former RunAway squad was nearly unrivalled during the GOATS metagame but in Stage 3 the plucky Los Angeles Valiant did the impossible. They not only toppled the multi-time stage finalists, but they also did so convincingly. This marked the first loss for the Titans in the regular season but marked a massive hole in Vancouver’s game plan; their weakness to Sombra. At the time there were a few schools of thought. Certain maps could feature some Winston compositions, then you have your standard heavy tank, traditional GOATS looks and certain teams plugged in Sombra into that aforementioned style. The Valiant with Park "KariV" Young-seo’s expert Ana and Johannes "Shax" Nielsen’s proficiency around Sombra, the team defied the odds and showed the world that the Titans could be felled. 

3.) Kings Of Summer

The story of the 2020 Paris Eternal was one of summer success, however, it started with their upset over the defending Overwatch League champions, San Francisco Shock. While many teams had to struggle and wade through the Genji based metagame, the Eternal thrived with star DPS ace Kim "SP9RK1E" Yeong-han leading the charge. With the Shock unable to match the Eternals’ tempo with the lack of Nano Boosted Dragon Blades, Paris battled through the match ending in a nail-bitingly close map five, last fight scenario. While suffering an early death, the Eternal collects themselves, lean into SP9RK1E’s ultimate and end up sweeping the Shock in the final moments. Not only a huge upset that ultimately led to their Summer Showdown title, but this is one of those stage finals that feel like a playoff grand final. 

2.) Put Your Headset On, Son!

Probably one of the first major upsets, and one for the history books, in competitive Overwatch history was Team EnVyUs’ defeat at the hands of Rogue at 2016’s Atlantic Showdown. EnVyUs marched into the event with a 57-game winning streak. They were the first dynasty the game had seen, and they were the odds on favourites to capture the title like they had so many times before. However, Jonathan "Reinforce" Larsson and Rogue have separate plans for the undefeated kings of North America. For context, Rogue was a highly competitive team, but even though the qualifiers for the Atlantic Showdown, they would perform admirably, but not showcase any sense of dominance. That would change once they sat across from Team EnVyUs. Trading blow for blow throughout an entire best-of-five, Rogue would emerge victoriously over the tournament favourites, deal them their first loss, and would pave the way to the Atlantic Showdown title. 

1.) Hai Hai, Goodbye Goodbye

It would be unfair to site GC Busan’s repeat victories over defending APEX champions, Lunatic-Hai, as one “match”, but their first meeting was one that felt like it established an entire career of narratives still has its roots firmly seated in the Overwatch League. Advancing through APEX’s amateur division as one of the better prospect teams, GC Busan, never lept off the page.

They were good but were far from dominant. Teams like LuxuryWatch Red and Nc Foxes proved their mortality, but it was their eventual sweep of Lunatic-Hai in the Season 4 playoffs that cemented their status as serious title contenders. Without GC Busan’s evolution and upset of Lunatic-Hai, we would have the duo that was Park "Profit" Joon-yeong and Hong "Gesture" Jae-hee, the implications of this specific match hold serious weight throughout the course of Overwatch history. Without the stars of GC Busan eventually defeating RunAway and joining the London Spitfire, the history of Overwatch could be drastically different. 

That’s why we’ve chosen this as our biggest upset of Overwatch history. 

While it is a more antiquated match, the fact that this upset springboarded one of the biggest narrative threads, it also placed the defending champions with their backs against the wall, and was a sweep - and was a massive upgrade in the team's performance? Difficult to beat some with that much weight. 

Honourable Mentions

We would be remiss to not mention some select matches that just barely missed the cut.

The likes of the 2019 Washington Justice’s victory over the Vancouver Titans in Stage 4. While the result still is jaw-dropping, both teams were already locked into their fate. The Justice were already out of playoff contention and the Titans were so far ahead that a loss like this barely made a dent. However, we still look back fondly at how well the Justice looked piloting Hanzo and Mei. In an alternate world where Stage 4 had a playoff, there is a non-zero chance.

Sticking with the 2019 season, you can’t help but point towards the Atlanta Reign’s shocking victory in round one of the playoffs, sending the eventual winners, the San Francisco Shock, into the losers’ bracket. In an odd way, perhaps if the Shock never slipped up in those final moments, which to this day we still argue they should have won, maybe they don’t become the Overwatch League’s sophomore champions? Perhaps that mini-dynasty never forms? Rest assured, the Reign shocked the world that day. 

The match that made not only GOATS but the San Francisco Shock look mortal, the Stage 3 final against the Shanghai Dragons still is one of the moments that lives rent-free in the heads of the masses. Encompassing the age-old archetype of the immovable object squaring off against an unstoppable force, the Dragons utilized some creative heavy DPS tactics prior to the role lock that was awaiting them in Stage 4. This forced San Francisco to adapt giving the Dragons a slight edge, which they leveraged to one of the most colourful finals in recent memory. 

For some of the old heads, Mighty AOD’s battle against KongDoo Panthera from OGN’s Overwatch APEX Season 3 still is a fun upset to consider almost four years later. Packed chock-full of names that would eventually grace the Overwatch League stage, it is an explosively exciting match between one of the gateway teams to the amateur leagues and one of the best teams in the world, we’ll let your imagination decide which is which. The result obviously didn’t have the same impact, due to the scheduling of the group stage, but it still is a great match to throw on the rose-tinted shades and walk down memory lane.

 

Joseph "Volamel" Franco

About The Author

Joseph "Volamel" Franco

Joseph “Volamel” Franco is a Freelance Journalist at GGRecon. Starting with the Major League Gaming events 2006, he started out primarily following Starcraft 2, Halo 3, and Super Smash Bros. Melee, before transitioning from viewer to journalist. Volamel has covered Overwatch for four years and has ventured into VALORANT as the game continues to grow. His work can also be found on sites like Esports Heaven, HTC Esports, and VP Esports.

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